On the eve of tonight’s (Sat., Nov. 4, 2017) UFC 217 from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, an extremely frightening scene unfolded at last night’s Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) 26 from Houston.
According to a post from King’s MMA fighter CJ Hancock on his Facebook page, he died in the cage last night when his heart stopped and his kidneys stopped working, only to be revived with CPR and an EKG by paramedics:
Hancock stated that his doctor told him he should stop fighting altogether, and would now just continue on as a coach while still competing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu superfights.
He was uncertain exactly why he sustained such a dire injury in his bout, but pointed towards a hard weight cut. He fought Charlie Ontiveros on the preliminary card of LFA 26 and lost by second-round TKO when he collapsed.
Legacy CEO Ed Soares, who is also longtime former UFC champion Anderson Silva’s manager, issued the following statement clarifying the scary situation via MMA Fighting:
“It’s a very unfortunate situation where C.J. Hancock took a body kick during his fight,” Soares said in the statement. “After the kick landed, there was a few second delay, and then he collapsed in the cage. Our cutman David Maldonado immediately recognized the problem and signaled to the medical team sitting cageside. They were able to resuscitate and stabilize C.J. and took him to the hospital via ambulance where they determined he had suffered kidney failure. C.J. is currently recovering and in the company of his friends and family.”
It’s another harrowing instance of weight cutting affecting a fighter adversely, and this time it nearly cost a combatant his life.
For what it’s worth, Hancock (2-2) made weight at 170.5 for his bout with Ontiveros, but has competed in amateur as high as 205 pounds.
Regardless of the specifics, we here at LowKick wish Hancock and his family all the best in this time.
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